Windows Mobile 6.5 walkthrough with Engadget (now with video!)

We saw a Touch Diamond2 running old-skool Windows Mobile 6.1 this morning -- and don't get us wrong, the hardware's pretty hot, but who really wants that noise when we've got the same thing running Windows Mobile 6.5 a few blocks away? Shortly after the fanfare of Microsoft's press conference today, we were ushered downstairs for a walkthrough on a freshly-flashed Touch Diamond2 of virtually everything that makes 6.5 different from the versions before it, and while we're not blown away by the sheer freshness or paradigm-shiftyness of what we're seeing here, it's a totally acceptable bump of 0.4 in the version number. Let's put it this way: we still have a burning desire in our hearts and our loins for 7.0, whenever that happens. Follow the break for video and some key highlights!

Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 walkthrough

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• The new locking screen is very cool. Not the jazziest looking we've ever seen, but the added functionality of being able to go straight to specific screens of the phone -- screens you're particularly interested in when coming out of standby -- is great. Someone should've thought of this long ago.
• The home screen is a love-it-or-hate-it affair -- the gesture used to navigate it might be a bit difficult to get used to. There's a focused bar for each piece of information on the screen; it needs to be dragged from item to item to highlight, which is where we could see ourselves getting a little hung up. The left / right gestures to move through pieces of information in a single category (tasks or calendar items throughout the day, for example) makes a boatload of information accessible from the home screen, but it might be too much -- if you're busy, seeing your whole calendar this way could take a few minutes and leave you with a sore thumb. Also, the left / right thing makes less sense for some of the items -- bookmarks, for example. Who's going to thumb through their bookmarks one at a time?
• Windows Media Player is a total unchanged carry-over from 6.1 -- a major disappointment for anyone hoping that the Zune influence on the 6.5's home screen would be pervasive throughout the platform. Actually, a major disappointment, period.
• 6.5 is resistive only. It doesn't support capacitive touchscreens.
• The on-screen keyboard looks cool, but you'll see some struggles typing engadget.com in the video -- possibly related to the resistive nature of the screen. Bottom line, 6.5 isn't 100 percent finger-friendly. (Besides, it turns out that the keyboard is HTC's, not Microsoft's; as far as we know, the stock board is unchanged from 6.1).
• Scrolling is generally choppy, especially in the honeycomb menus. We're hoping this resolves itself prior to launch -- the software's still in alpha, after all -- but we're not holding our breath. The "springboard" action when scrolling is new to WinMo and works well, but what's the point when you're struggling with speed?
• IE Mobile seems to render beautifully in the sites we've seen, but the zoom slider seems difficult to actuate with a finger -- possibly just because it's slow to respond. We think part of the perception that the zooming functionality is low-performance stems from the fact that it's stepped, not smooth. Hard to say if 6.5 has the raw horsepower to do smooth scrolling, though (and to be fair, Android and the iPhone "cheat" by filling in areas with a checkerboard pattern to speed things up, so no one's really nailed this).
  
• The finger-friendly menus seem unintuitive even to our demonstrator, mainly because they don't support swipe-based scrolling. Instead, the user taps arrows at the top and bottom of the context menu to navigate.
  

[iYe @ Feb 16th 2009 11:06AM]

Wow, it's like 35% web screen and the rest is inputscreen. Good job!

[EGOvoruhk @ Feb 16th 2009 11:15AM]

You can always minimize the keyboard when you're done typing, you know, unless you want to be an idiot

[dcoaster @ Feb 16th 2009 11:17AM]

A very intelligent comment, impostor! Would you like a cookie?

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 11:19AM]

Typical iDiot.
The keyboard only comes up when you are typing, it auto-hides when you are not.

Shouldn't you be in school.
Oh, damn, forgot, today is President's Day.
Translation: we are stuck with the iPhone teeny-boppers today -- an Engadget Day Care if you will.

[f14tomdog2 @ Feb 16th 2009 11:23AM]

I still have school :(

[Neha @ Feb 16th 2009 11:42AM]

Paul Chapel must be douching. He hasn't queefed here yet.

[chickenator @ Feb 16th 2009 1:01PM]

i kinda like more the meizu version of lock screen than WinMob 6.5,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDQ-coSHPCQ

btw Microsoft should already being on WinCE 6 platform, which is also the foundation of Meizu's MMobile OS. WinCE 5.x on WinMob 6, 6.1 and 6.5 is an ancient platform already. what a shame, Meizu is lightyears ahead from WinMob team.

while this WinMob 6.5 looks like really finger friendly (with finger gestures etc.), it is too much relying on finger gestures itself. heavily. take example on the Home Screen. The focused bar. it's a hassle to drag here and there only to scroll through the home menus. although it's eye candy, it doesnt made much sense in terms of usability.

but yeah, microsoft still got more time to polish their OS. they r releasing this in Q4 rite? correct me if i'm wrong.













.

[chickenator @ Feb 16th 2009 1:04PM]

btw, this year will be a great year for mobile OSes. it should be great for everyone.

[sinai @ Feb 16th 2009 2:16PM]

"OH LOLZ A POST ABOUT A MICROSOFT PRODUCT! TIME TO MENTION MY IPHONE!"

this is why we think you're a douchebag.

[philosopher @ Feb 17th 2009 2:34AM]

So far browser blows in comparison to iphone. windows media player lol!!! this is not replacing my widescreen video ipod on my 16gb iphone 3g anytime in the near future.,what a fail.........such overhyped fail.Im sure we all agree..,?

[Francisco Viana @ Feb 16th 2009 11:10AM]

What a piece of crap. UI sucks, the X still there and its even bigger now. Still living in the past with menus, drop downs, X to close a window. No creativity at all. They replaced the front end to be more touch friendly but most of the application still the same and made to be used with s stylus and still carrying the X, OK and Cancel buttons and the whole desktop experience. They just forgot that the mobile is the future industry and future don't live in the past.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 11:20AM]

That X is there because of multi-tasking, and the ability to see open apps, switch between them, and close them if we so choose.

Something you iDiots wouldn't have the slightest clue about, you know, multi-tasking -- the thing of myths and legends an iPhone land.

[Francisco Viana @ Feb 16th 2009 11:31AM]

It doesn't need to be an X to close, you can throw it away, shake your phone, do a gesture thing, something more creative and new, you don't need to have an X to close or choose save in programs for the system to know that when you close you want the information saved. You don't need to use an OK/Cancel button for the system knows what you want to do. This is all based on Windows desktop experience and mobile is the future, they better get their shit together and re-invent something new because as I said the future doesn't live from the past and all the Windows desktop experience is thing of the past.

Palm just came up with their new system and I can relate on their innovation and creativity in there. You can clearly see how they managed to get multi-task working without having to use the stupid X.

Microsoft can do much better.

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 16th 2009 11:49AM]

Francisco Viana, you talk like if Microsoft builds the hardware! Stop pooping out of your mouth.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 11:50AM]

And what is wrong with the X ?

I click on it, I can see all of my running apps, I can easily switch between them, it's convenient, its non-obtrusive, it's simple, it's intuitive, and it's something we are all already familiar with.

I don't want to shake my phone like an ass anytime I want to close an app or switch something, what next, twitch my nose a la Bewitched to open an app?

Really, you are trying to suggestion a solution for a non-existent problem just for the sake of being different.

What's really trite and banal are responses such as yours, not this tried and true method.

[Rocky @ Feb 16th 2009 11:51AM]

Why does everyone feel the need to reinvent the wheel. The X works fine. It has always worked and there's no reason to change it. A gesture motion to close the window? How about this gesture move finger to the upper right and press. There's your gesture.

[Francisco Viana @ Feb 16th 2009 11:55AM]

great argument yours, is that really the best you can say?

[oh.ppie @ Feb 16th 2009 8:05PM]

@ Francisco Viana

You fail at debate.

[bjsguess @ Feb 16th 2009 12:19PM]

Does something need to be reinvented? The "X" is universally understood and is super easy to use. Shaking may be more cool but it is hardly more practical or desired.

Again, I would rather have substance over form in a business based mobile device.

[Francisco Viana @ Feb 16th 2009 12:23PM]

Shake was just a way to say that it can be different. The X is from the desktop experience and yes, there is a need to reinvent, to make it better. This is how we evolute, we reinvent better things.

[ZSX @ Feb 16th 2009 12:30PM]

I agree, the X works fine. In the past when the hardware couldn't keep up with the software it may have been necessary to close some programs, but now it is better to have the programs lying dormant in the background so they can reload "instantaneously", and you don't hit that ceiling with the RAM limitations.

And you can close the program if you really want to with a tap-hold or by calling up the taask manager. I still don't understand why you would need to.

There may be several problems with Windows Mobile, but this is not one of them.

[jakem @ Feb 16th 2009 12:31PM]

Hamidxa is right. There's no point implementing change for the sake of change. The X button is much more straight forward, obvious and intuitive than the gestures you suggested. Those are just a gimmick that would get old really quickly. They would also require a lot more movement when all you want to do is close a window. Remember, KISS and if it aint broke don't fix it.

Having said that, I sincerely hope that the X does actually close the windows and not just hide the applications like previous versions of WinMo. Apologies if this is already the case in 6.1.

[poke @ Feb 16th 2009 12:36PM]

@Francisco Viana - please give it up! You really are sounding like you dont know what you are talking about but rather than just leave it you persist.

So what if it came from the desktop - what is so wrong with that? As has been said already, it is quick and intuitive - everyone recognises it for what it is. I dont see a problem nore does thousands of others.

Stop trying to find flaw where there isn't one. If you want something to hang on to then pick at menus, settings window and file explorer but please stop going on about the "X"

[duckylam @ Feb 16th 2009 12:38PM]

My Winmo phone doesn't have an accelerometer. Shaking it does nothing for me... which is good since my hand shakes sometimes. As long as they make the X finger sized, I have no complaints.

[Ramifications @ Feb 16th 2009 12:41PM]

I wish I could evolute!

[Dave @ Feb 16th 2009 12:46PM]

I guess I'm really not seeing something great here with WinMo 6.5. I currently have the HTC Touch and HTC Touch Diamond on Sprint. Both are running WinMo 6.1. On my HTC Touch I'm running the Winterface app by Vito Technologies along with their FunContact and texting app. That seems to be a whole lot smoother that what I'm seeing from WinMo 6.5. I don't use IE much as there are three other browsers I usually prefer based on the website I'm visiting. The browsers are Opera Mobile (not Opera Mini), the Iris browser by Torch Mobile, and the Skyfire browser. I also think it's interesting how they say WinMo 6.5 will not be made available to current phones. Since it appears to be no more than just another skin why wouldn't they? Seems like they're doing everything but actually giving us a ride down to the competition's storefront to move us away from WinMo. As a WinMo user who dates back to WindowsCE through version 1.92 and then on to the PocketPC on well over a dozen different devices I say shame on you Microsoft. Get your head out of your a$$ and start developing something that we can not only believe in and rely on but that we can actually brag about. Right now the only thing I'm left to brag about is the fact that my WinMo devices can run some great apps that iPhones currently can't like the SlingPlayer app. But when these third party app companies finally release their iPhone apps I'll have nothing.

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ Feb 16th 2009 12:52PM]

Windows Mobile is now officially dead... this is crap...however, what's more disappointing is that Android is not on this phone

[ntino @ Feb 16th 2009 1:00PM]

everyone seems to be forgetting that this is 6.5, not 7.
It is not a huge overall, WinMo7 is what I am looking forward to. This is just a stepping stone and a test bed to see what works and what people like. If WinMo7 is a disappointment and lacks creativity, then I can understand being upset.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 1:03PM]

Francisco says:

"Shake was just a way to say that it can be different. The X is from the desktop experience and yes, there is a need to reinvent, to make it better. This is how we evolute, we reinvent better things."

Evolute?
Ummmm...come again?

Dictionary: evolute (ĕv'ə-lūt', ē'və-)
n. Mathematics.
The locus of the centers of curvature of a given curve.the locus of the center of curvature or the envelope of the normals of a curve

The word you are looking for is evolve.
Not that I would expect a typical iPhone user to be able to distinguish between the two.

[akramquraishi @ Feb 16th 2009 3:02PM]

@dwboston u want ur mobile to read ur mind for ur decision on Close / Ok / Cancel

[Mark Anderson @ Feb 16th 2009 4:38PM]

@Francisco

Something different? You mean like the task switcher on the Omnia?

Fucktard.

[loocas @ Feb 18th 2009 11:50AM]

@ Hamidxa

Forgive the boy, this is obviously not his fault as the T9 on his beloved iPhone cannot be turned off, so he's stuck with grammar mistakes here and there.

[jakem @ Feb 16th 2009 11:11AM]

Engadget photos galleries give me ADD with a touch of Tourette's. Could I please have this in decent quality video?

[starchild @ Feb 16th 2009 11:23AM]

I second that ... can we atleast have a Lightbox gallery or something?

[jakem @ Feb 16th 2009 12:11PM]

Cheers (hope it's good quality).

[htd @ Feb 16th 2009 11:16AM]

'a burning desire in our hearts and our loins'?

how would you like your loins done?

[Jubei @ Feb 16th 2009 11:18AM]

The youtube video of this pathetically designed UI confirms MS inability to innovate. In their attempt to "pretend" that they do not copy Apple, the resulting product clearly shows the extent of their failure.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 11:24AM]

If by fail you mean it looks slick and totally functional...all the while supporting dozens of features that the iPhone lacks, then whatever floats your boat.

[Jubei @ Feb 16th 2009 11:29AM]

As NYT eloquently states: "The overall effect is pleasant, but it appeared derivative, with nothing that I noticed that pushed the art of cellphone interfaces forward."

Notice the word "derivative"? That just about sums up Microsoft current offerings. ahahaha

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 11:31AM]

Yes, a derivative of their and their partners current offerings (see TF3D, TF2D, SPB Shell, TouchWiz, etc.)
Not a derivative of Apple's.

[Francisco Viana @ Feb 16th 2009 11:33AM]

Agree and Apple is not just the only example. Take a look at the new Symbian S60 from N97 or look at the new system from Palm Pre. This is innovation, what MS is doing is just saving the resources built from the Windows desktop and trying to bring the same appeal to a mobile phone which doesn't work.

[Deed @ Feb 16th 2009 3:15PM]

Almost valid. However, it makes sense to try and make the phone's interface as similar as reasonably plausible as a desktop interface. This is where the term "familiarity" is useful.

[IluRapii @ Feb 16th 2009 4:34PM]

I love the sweeping meta-reality comments that iUsers make. This particular comment makes no sense because you dont back it up with any proof. Same stupid drivel coming from inarticulate morons that like company like Apple to do the thinking for them. Nice lemming, good lemming...now go jump off a cliff.

[CJ @ Feb 16th 2009 11:19AM]

Looks nice.

A wonderful evolutionary upgrade to the current Winmo OS. And don't forget, probably this time next year they will be showing off at least an Alpha version of 7.

This should be enough to hold people over until Microsoft can finish rebuilding Windows Mobile from the ground up.

[iKurt Mark III @ Feb 16th 2009 12:10PM]

It does look "nice". But that's probably it. That's where the comparison with the OSX on the iPhone starts to end. Microsoft can't create a usable experience on their first iteration of the software which is very important. First impressions are very important, and Winmo fails to deliver.

[bjsguess @ Feb 16th 2009 12:21PM]

iKurt - you can keep your pretty phone with limited abilities. I'd prefer a phone that actually does what I want it to do. Different consumers for different products.

[Darren @ Feb 16th 2009 12:21PM]

The big question is why would anyone want to wait around for Microsoft to get their act together? Manufacturers may have no choice, but between Google, Apple, and RIM, consumers sure as hell do.

The bottom line is that there isn't anything in that video that would impress anyone who's ever seen an iPhone. WinMo can't leverage a monopoly the way big Windows can, so there's really no reason why any consumer should be impressed by this rather poor me-too effort.

[Quix @ Feb 16th 2009 6:55PM]

"This should be enough to hold people over until Microsoft can finish rebuilding Windows Mobile from the ground up." - CJ

Uh huh. I vote "highly unlikely." And "wonderful" upgrade? Really? How about "joyous?" "Rapturous?" Microsoft demands more slobbery superlatives from its minions. You people sure can spin a mediocre update into the Second Coming. Yet you say Apple people are sheep. Sheesh.

"Please, people, just bear with us while we try to come up with something not completely crapped up!" - Microsoft

Lead or get out of the way, Microsoft (in other words: get out of the way).

[Neil @ Feb 16th 2009 11:22AM]

Still looks like you need to whip out a stylus to do a lot of the basic functions....Oh how much longer till Windows Mobile 7 ! ! all our phones in the UK are now on 18 month contracts min and we are ready to renew....do I really want 6.1 for another 18 months. I have literally had nightmares about that phone OS! !

[Darren @ Feb 16th 2009 12:26PM]

Why the devil would you wait for Microsoft to deliver technology that's been available on other platforms for years? WinMo has no monopoly, it's dated, and it's losing momentum. If it's time to renew there are *plenty* of other options out there.